


Felt

by AleishaDreams



Category: Free!, Free! Fandom - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Future Fish Babies, BakaPandy's Future Fish Children, F/M, Future Fish Babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-01
Updated: 2016-03-01
Packaged: 2018-05-24 05:53:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6143616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AleishaDreams/pseuds/AleishaDreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It would be nice,” Umiko finally starts, “To be able to do that, because that means they are so close they don’t need words to communicate. They are so close it’s like they were linked from the moment they were born. Do you know what dad Haru says? He says he and dad Makoto are soul mates and that’s why they can do it. How amazing is that?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Felt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BakaPandy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BakaPandy/gifts).



> I just was having Future Babies feelings.
> 
> Un-beta'd.

When he and Umiko started dating, “excited” would be the perfect word he would have used to describe himself at the second Umiko accepted to be his girlfriend. Sakurai indeed was excited, to say the least, full of hope, expectation, and happiness as he had been pinning over his best friend for a few years already and just recently decided to take a courage pill and asked her out.

To his surprise, Umiko accepted without a doubt, as if it was the natural or the simple next step in the friendship they had; she almost looked like she was expecting it to happen eventually. Sakurai suspects it’s because of her parents Nanase Haruka and Tachibana Makoto, scientifically proven soul mates – or so his father Rin says – , who have known each other since forever.

Which brings the next issue to the table. When he confessed his parents that he is in love with Umiko, his dad Rin warned him about “unreal relationship expectations” that Umiko may have because of her parents—

“Ok, what am I thinking now?” Umiko asks, looking directly at him with her deep blue eyes.

— such as mind reading.

They are sitting on Umiko’s bed, in her bedroom, both of them looking at each other. When they started dating – half a year ago – Sakurai decided to visit Umiko every Sunday because it’s when the two are free from school and club’s responsibilities. Today, evidently, is a Sunday, and Sakurai arrived since early in the morning to enjoy to the fullest his time with his girlfriend.

“I don’t know…” Sakurai replies, “About… dogs?”

Umiko sighs, disappointed, and scratches her head as she speaks. “No, it wasn’t dogs…”

Also when they started dating – half a year ago – Umiko decided they would test their “mind reading abilities” every week. Sadly, every week they both fail. It actually hurts Sakurai, not because he fails, but because he doesn’t like seeing Umiko disappointed every week. She insists they should be able to do it, just like her parents, because they have known each other since forever, just like them.

Umiko has always been a valiant spirit, full of force and determination, and Sakurai really admires that – it’s one of the reasons of why he fell in love with her in the first place – so it doesn’t matter how many times both Tachibana-san and Nanase-san tell her that it doesn’t work like that, she still wants to try.

“I wonder if we are doing something wrong here,” Umiko mumbles, lying down on the bed defeated, “Big Dad and Small Dad make it look so easy.”

Sakurai snorts, lying down next to her. “I know. Dad Rin sometimes says it’s kind of freaky to see.”

“More than freaky it’s annoying,” Umiko says, laughing, “But also…”

Her voice turns lower until her lips close. Umiko’s blue eyes are fixed on the roof, evidently lost in her own mind, probably organizing her thoughts like she sometimes does. Sakurai finds this endearing; he loves looking at her when she does this because he practically can see her mind working in those blue eyes of her. It warms his heart with a pleasant feeling.

“It would be nice,” Umiko finally starts, “To be able to do that, because that means they are so close they don’t need words to communicate. They are so close it’s like they were linked from the moment they were born. Do you know what dad Haru says? He says he and dad Makoto are soul mates and that’s why they can do it. How amazing is that?”

It all clicks now. The reason why is Umiko so determined to learn to each other minds, and why it’s so important for her, it’s because she wants the same as her parents have.

“You know?” Sakurai says, “My dads can’t read each other’s minds and they are soul mates.”

Umiko looks at him, incredulous, arching her eyebrows. “What are you talking about? Of course they read each other’s minds!”

Sakurai blinks at her, impressed at her words. “What are **you** talking about?”

The girl actually laughs at his question. “I can’t believe you, Sakurai! Do you really haven’t noticed it? They read their minds, just like my parents, but in a slightly different way.”

Umiko turns a little to rest on her side, so she is able to look at the boy, as she starts to explain. “I see them doing it all the time whenever I go to your house. It’s kind of cute, to be honest.”

The boy frowns. He tries to remember any incident where his parents showed the ability of reading their minds but he can’t think of anything; at least not as obvious as Tachibana-san and Nanase-san are known to do.

“For example,” the girl continues, “Whenever Matsuoka-san comes back from work, Yamazaki-san already has his favorite tea ready for when he arrives.”

“That isn’t mind reading, that’s knowing what my dad Rin likes.”

Umiko shakes her head. “No, it’s mind reading, because Yamazaki-san knows Matsuoka-san will drink it. Also, when Yamazaki-san clears his throat, Matsuoka-san massages his shoulder a little.”

Sakurai guesses that makes a little more sense, but he still wouldn’t call it “mind reading” as Umiko is doing.

“They are different from my dads,” Umiko says, “My dads are more about words, unlike your dads that are more about actions.”

She smiles softly, probably remembering different scenes from both couples in different times, thinking of all the evidence of how much linked they are.

Sakurai feels himself falling in love all over again.

“Ah!” Umiko gasps suddenly, “That would make sense!”

Another thing that Umiko sometimes does is that she starts speaking in the middle of her thoughts, as if she is expecting everyone to understand what she is talking about. Sakurai patiently waits for her to continue.

“If my dads have a way of reading each other’s minds, and your dads have a different way of reading their minds, then it must mean we have a way too!”

She is smiling widely, her blue eyes are bright and shimmering, and Sakurai senses the excitement coming from her. He still doesn’t understand much of what Umiko is trying to say, but he is used to her to be like this.

“All we have to do is to find our own way of reading our minds,” she continues, “Ah, I wonder what could it be?”

Umiko turns around again, this time looking at the roof, pursing her lips in deep concentration to find a solution to their current problem. By his part, Sakurai smiles at her.

Looking at her this determined to do something is always a pleasure for him, to see that fire in her eyes, to see that will to break mountains to get what she wants; it inspires him, igniting a fire of his own inside his chest to the point where the ember covers him completely.

Damn, he loves her so much.

Out of nowhere, Umiko turns her face to see him, her eyes wide and surprised for some unknown reason. She stares at him in silence, and suddenly Sakurai feels really observed and embarrassed because of his previous thoughts of burning love.

The girl gulps, and Sakurai does the same, feeling his breath stopping when he sees Umiko getting closer.

It’s their first kiss, and Sakurai doesn’t even realize it because his mind is going overdrive with unorganized thoughts of how good Umiko smells, of how close she is, and of how his own body is burning.

When she breaks the kiss, opening her eyes slowly to fix them on Sakurai’s, the boy licks his lips without knowing.

They stay silent, looking at each other, and Sakurai can’t help it when his eyes go down to Umiko’s lips every five seconds.

“Why?” He asks in the end.

“I felt like it,” she replies with a shrug.

It’s an easy answer but Sakurai doesn’t have any problem of accepting it.

“Me too,” Sakurai responds, giving her a smile that Umiko corresponds.

It may be a little hard trying to fulfill Umiko’s weird relationship expectations, but he loves her so much he doesn’t mind trying every single week.

Who knows? Maybe someday they will be able to tell what is going on in each other’s mind.

 

 


End file.
